Outlander has featured some pretty gruesome scenes over the years
Outlander, famed for its harrowing content, is no stranger to graphic scenes of warfare and medical distress. The Starz period drama, set chiefly in a conflict-riven 18th-century Scotland and later on in the New World, is rife with battle sequences and gruesome injuries requiring attention, reports the Scottish Daily Express.
Central character Dr Claire Fraser, portrayed by Caitríona Balfe, frequently encounters a range of ghastly conditions and often performs surgeries on the show. Fans who wonder how the Irish actress handles shooting these gory Outlander segments had insights shared on the official Outlander podcast by writer Anne Kenney and executive producer Ronald D.Moore.
“Caitríona, I’ve never known her to be any kind of squeamish about any of this stuff,” revealed Kenney, stating that even “cooked rabbits” didn’t perturb the Belfast star.
Moore concurred, adding, “I don’t think she is. I don’t think she has any problems with it.”
He recounted an example: “Day one on the show is her in the field hospital in World War II with open wounds and blood spurting everywhere, raw, really nasty stuff. So, I think she got over it really quickly.”
Both Kenney and Moore also discussed the challenges involved in shooting such stomach-turning moments due to their complexity. Kenney acknowledged the difficulty, noting that “obviously, she can’t do this on the guy’s legs”.
The method of shooting medical scenes varied, with Balfe sometimes filming with makeup applied directly to her skin or just a close-up on a prosthetic while excluding the rest of the person from the shot.
Moore disclosed: “Some of it’s shot later. Those insert shots of the wound itself were done weeks after the fact – and not even Caitríona’s hands, somebody else’s hands.”
Die-hard Outlander fans should brace themselves for more blood-soaked action as the show gears up for its eighth and ultimate season.
Diverging from Diana Gabaldon’s much-loved Outlander books – the foundation of the series – viewers will be taken on unexpected turns.
One major twist sees the remarkable survival of Claire and Jamie Fraser’s (played by Sam Heughan) daughter Faith, presumed stillborn in the show’s first season.
In an alternative twist of fate, Master Raymond (portrayed by Dominique Pinon), whisks away the newborn to another era where she is miraculously revived.
As the final chapter approaches, the show promises to unravel the long-standing enigma of Jamie’s ghost and the mechanics behind his appearance in the 1940s, a time he isn’t supposed to traverse.
Though the television chapter concludes, Gabaldon remains diligently expanding her epic narrative, projected to venture into new directions towards its conclusion.